Identifying Textual Terms in Response to a Visual Query

ABSTRACT

A method, system, and computer readable storage medium is provided for identifying textual terms in response to a visual query is provided. A server system receives a visual query from a client system. The visual query is responded to as follows. A set of image feature values for the visual query is generated. The set of image feature values is mapped to a plurality of textual terms, including a weight for each of the textual terms in the plurality of textual terms. The textual terms are ranked in accordance with the weights of the textual terms. Then, in accordance with the ranking the textual terms, one or more of the ranked textual terms are sent to the client system.

This application is potentially related to the following U.S. patentapplications and Provisional patent application, which is incorporatedby reference herein in its entirety U.S. Provisional Patent ApplicationNo. 61/266,116, filed Dec. 2, 2009, entitled “Architecture forResponding to a Visual Query,” now U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/850,483, filed Aug. 4, 2010.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The disclosed embodiments relate generally to the field of imageprocessing, and in particular to determining one or more textual termsin response to a visual query.

BACKGROUND

Text-based or term-based based searching, wherein a user inputs a wordor phrase into a search engine and receives a variety of results is auseful tool for searching. Term based queries require a user toexplicitly provide search terms in the form of words, phrases and/orother terms. Sometimes a user may see an object in the physical worldand want to locate information related to the object, but do know whatterms to use for a term-based query in a search engine. Accordingly, asystem that can receive a visual query such as an image, and use it todetermine one or more terms would be desirable.

SUMMARY

According to some embodiments, a method is performed on a server systemhaving one or more processors and memory storing one or more programsfor execution by the one or more processors. In the method, the serversystem receives a visual query from a client system. The server systemresponds to the visual query by: generating a set of image featurevalues for the visual query; mapping the set of image feature values toa plurality of textual terms, including a weight for each of the textualterms in the plurality of textual terms; ranking the textual terms inaccordance with the weights of the textual terms; and in accordance withthe ranking the textual terms, sending one or more of the ranked textualterms to the client system.

A server system includes one or more processors and memory storing oneor more programs for execution by the one or more processors. The one ormore programs include instructions for receiving a visual query from aclient system, and responding to the visual query by: generating a setof image feature values for the visual query; mapping the set of imagefeature values to a plurality of textual terms, including a weight foreach of the textual terms in the plurality of textual terms; ranking thetextual terms in accordance with the weights of the textual terms; andin accordance with the ranking the textual terms, sending one or more ofthe ranked textual terms to the client system.

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium stores one or moreprograms configured for execution by a computer, such as a server systemhaving one or more processors for executing programs. The one or moreprograms include instructions for receiving a visual query from a clientsystem, and responding to the visual query by: generating a set of imagefeature values for the visual query; mapping the set of image featurevalues to a plurality of textual terms, including a weight for each ofthe textual terms in the plurality of textual terms; ranking the textualterms in accordance with the weights of the textual terms; and inaccordance with the ranking the textual terms, sending one or more ofthe ranked textual terms to the client system.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a computer network that includesa visual query server system.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a client system, in accordancewith some embodiments.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a front end visual queryprocessing server system, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an image to terms search systemutilized to process a visual query, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating a process for training imagerelevance models by mapping image features to textual terms, inaccordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating exemplary data structures fortraining image relevance models by mapping image features to textualterms, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating a process for determining one ormore textual terms in response to a visual query, in accordance withsome embodiments.

FIG. 8 illustrates a client system with a screen shot of an exemplaryvisual query, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 9 illustrates a screen shot of an interactive results document andvisual query displayed concurrently with a list of textual terms, inaccordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 10 illustrates a screen shot of a list of textual terms displayedconcurrently with corresponding images, in accordance with someembodiments.

FIG. 11 illustrates a client system with a screen shot of an interactiveresults document with labels, in accordance with some embodiments.

Like reference numerals refer to corresponding parts throughout thedrawings.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments, examples of whichare illustrated in the accompanying drawings. In the following detaileddescription, numerous specific details are set forth in order to providea thorough understanding of the embodiments. However, it will beapparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that various embodimentsmay be practiced without these specific details. In other instances,well-known methods, procedures, components, circuits, and networks havenot been described in detail so as not to unnecessarily obscure aspectsof the embodiments.

It will also be understood that, although the terms first, second, etc.may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements shouldnot be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguishone element from another. For example, a first contact could be termed asecond contact, and, similarly, a second contact could be termed a firstcontact, without changing the meaning of the description, so long as alloccurrences of the “first contact” are renamed consistently and alloccurrences of the second contact are renamed consistently. The firstcontact and the second contact are both contacts, but they are not thesame contact.

The terminology used in the description of the embodiments herein is forthe purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is notintended to be limiting of the claims. As used in the description of theembodiments and the appended claims, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and“the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless thecontext clearly indicates otherwise. It will also be understood that theterm “and/or” as used herein refers to and encompasses any and allpossible combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. Itwill be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or“comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence ofstated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/orcomponents, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or moreother features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components,and/or groups thereof.

As used herein, the term “if” may be construed to mean “when” or “upon”or “in response to determining” or “in response to detecting,” dependingon the context. Similarly, the phrase “if it is determined” or “if (astated condition or event) is detected” may be construed to mean “upondetermining” or “in response to determining” or “upon detecting (thestated condition or event)” or “in response to detecting (the statedcondition or event),” depending on the context.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a computer network that includesa visual query server system according to some embodiments. The computernetwork 100 includes one or more client systems 102 and a visual queryserver system 106. One or more communications networks 104 interconnectthese components. The communications network 104 may be any of a varietyof networks, including local area networks (LAN), wide area networks(WAN), wireless networks, wireline networks, the Internet, or acombination of such networks.

The client system 102 includes a client application 108, which isexecuted by the client system, for receiving a visual query (e.g.,visual query 802 of FIG. 8). A visual query is an image that issubmitted as a query to a search engine or search system. Examples ofvisual queries, without limitations include photographs, scanneddocuments and images, and drawings. In some embodiments, the clientapplication 108 is selected from the set consisting of a searchapplication, a search engine plug-in for a browser application, and asearch engine extension for a browser application. In some embodiments,the client application 108 is an “omnivorous” search box, which allows auser to drag and drop any format of image into the search box to be usedas the visual query.

A client system 102 sends queries to and receives data from the visualquery server system 106. The client system 102 may be any computer orother device that is capable of communicating with the visual queryserver system 106. Examples include, without limitation, desktop andnotebook computers, mainframe computers, server computers, mobiledevices such as mobile phones and personal digital assistants, networkterminals, and set-top boxes.

The visual query server system 106 includes a front end visual queryprocessing server 110. The front end server 110 receives a visual queryfrom the client 102, and sends the visual query to a plurality ofparallel search systems 112 for simultaneous processing. The searchsystems 112 each implement a distinct visual query search process andaccess their corresponding databases 114 as necessary to process thevisual query by their distinct search process. For example, a facerecognition search system 112-A will access a facial image database114-A to look for facial matches to the image query. If the visual querycontains a face, the facial recognition search system 112-A will returnone or more search results (e.g., names, matching faces, etc.) from thefacial image database 114-A. In another example, the optical characterrecognition (OCR) search system 112-B, converts any recognizable text inthe visual query into text for return as one or more search results. Inthe optical character recognition (OCR) search system 112-B, an OCRdatabase 114-B may be accessed to recognize particular fonts or textpatterns.

Any number of parallel search systems 112 may be used. Some examplesinclude a facial recognition search system 112-A, an OCR search system112-B, an image-to-terms search system 112-C (which may recognize anobject or an object category), a product recognition search system(which may be configured to recognize 2-D images such as book covers andCDs and may also be configured to recognized 3-D images such asfurniture), bar code recognition search system (which recognizes 1D and2D style bar codes), a named entity recognition search system, landmarkrecognition (which may configured to recognize particular famouslandmarks like the Eiffel Tower and may also be configured to recognizea corpus of specific images such as billboards), place recognition aidedby geo-location information provided by a GPS receiver in the clientsystem 102 or mobile phone network, a color recognition search system,and a similar image search system (which searches for and identifiesimages similar to a visual query). Further search systems can be addedas additional parallel search systems, represented in FIG. 1 by system112-N. All of the search systems, except the OCR search system, arecollectively defined herein as search systems performing an image-matchprocess. All of the search systems including the OCR search system arecollectively referred to as query-by-image search systems. In someembodiments, the visual query server system 106 includes a facialrecognition search system 112-A, an OCR search system 112-B, animage-to-terms search system 114-C, and at least one otherquery-by-image search system 112.

The parallel search systems 112 each individually process the visualsearch query and return their results to the front end server system110. In some embodiments, the front end server 100 may perform one ormore analyses on the search results such as one or more of: aggregatingthe results into a compound document, choosing a subset of results todisplay, and ranking the results as will be explained in more detailwith regard to FIG. 3. The front end server 110 communicates the searchresults to the client system 102.

The client system 102 presents the one or more search results to theuser. The results may be presented on a display, by an audio speaker, orany other means used to communicate information to a user. The user mayinteract with the search results in a variety of ways. In someembodiments, the user's selections, annotations, and other interactionswith the search results are transmitted to the visual query serversystem 106 and recorded along with the visual query in a query andannotation database 116. Information in the query and annotationdatabase can be used to improve visual query results. In someembodiments, the information from the query and annotation database 116is periodically pushed to the parallel search systems 112, whichincorporate any relevant portions of the information into theirrespective individual databases 114.

The computer network 100 optionally includes a term query server system118, for performing searches in response to term queries. A term queryis a query containing one or more terms, as opposed to a visual querywhich contains an image. The term query server system 118 may be used togenerate search results that supplement information produced by thevarious search engines in the visual query server system 106. Theresults returned from the term query server system 118 may include anyformat. The term query server system 118 may include textual documents,images, video, etc. While term query server system 118 is shown as aseparate system in FIG. 1, optionally the visual query server system 106may include a term query server system 118.

Additional information about the operation of the visual query serversystem 106 is provided below with respect to the flowcharts in FIGS. 5and 7.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a client system 102 in accordancewith some embodiments. The client system 102 typically includes one ormore processing units (CPU's) 202, one or more network or othercommunications interfaces 204, memory 212, and one or more communicationbuses 214 for interconnecting these components. The communication buses214 optionally include circuitry (sometimes called a chipset) thatinterconnects and controls communications between system components. Theclient system 102 includes a user interface 205. The user interface 205includes a display device 206 and optionally includes an input meanssuch as a keyboard, mouse, or other input buttons 208. Alternatively orin addition the display device 206 includes a touch sensitive surface209, in which case the display 206/209 is a touch sensitive display. Inclient systems that have a touch sensitive display 206/209, a physicalkeyboard is optional (e.g., a soft keyboard may be displayed whenkeyboard entry is needed). Furthermore, some client systems use amicrophone and voice recognition to supplement or replace the keyboard.Optionally, the client 102 includes a GPS (global positioning satellite)receiver, or other location detection apparatus 207 for determining thelocation of the client system 102. In some embodiments, visual querysearch services are provided that require the client system 102 toprovide the visual query server system to receive location informationindicating the location of the client system 102.

The client system 102 also includes an image capture device 210 such asa camera or scanner. Memory 212 includes high-speed random accessmemory, such as DRAM, SRAM, DDR RAM or other random access solid statememory devices; and may include non-volatile memory, such as one or moremagnetic disk storage devices, optical disk storage devices, flashmemory devices, or other non-volatile solid state storage devices.Memory 212 may optionally include one or more storage devices remotelylocated from the CPU(s) 202. Memory 212, or alternately the non-volatilememory device(s) within memory 212, comprises a non-transitory computerreadable storage medium. In some embodiments, memory 212 or the computerreadable storage medium of memory 212 stores the following programs,modules and data structures, or a subset thereof:

-   -   an operating system 216 that includes procedures for handling        various basic system services and for performing hardware        dependent tasks;    -   a network communication module 218 that is used for connecting        the client system 102 to other computers via the one or more        communication network interfaces 204 (wired or wireless) and one        or more communication networks, such as the Internet, other wide        area networks, local area networks, metropolitan area networks,        and so on;    -   a image capture module 220 for processing a respective image        captured by the image capture device/camera 210, where the        respective image may be sent (e.g., by a client application        module) as a visual query to the visual query server system;    -   one or more client application modules 222 for handling various        aspects of querying by image, including but not limited to: a        query-by-image submission module 224 for submitting visual        queries to the visual query server system; optionally a region        of interest selection module 225 that detects a selection (such        as a gesture on the touch sensitive display 206/209) of a region        of interest in an image and prepares that region of interest as        a visual query; a results browser 226 for displaying the results        of the visual query; and optionally an annotation module 228        with optional modules for structured annotation text entry 230        such as filling in a form or for freeform annotation text entry        232, which can accept annotations from a variety of formats, and        an image region selection module 234 (sometimes referred to        herein as a result selection module) which allows a user to        select a particular sub-portion of an image for annotation;    -   an optional content authoring application(s) 236 that allow a        user to author a visual query by creating or editing an image        rather than just capturing one via the image capture device 210;        optionally, one or such applications 236 may include        instructions that enable a user to select a sub-portion of an        image for use as a visual query;    -   an optional local image analysis module 238 that pre-processes        the visual query before sending it to the visual query server        system. The local image analysis may recognize particular types        of images, or sub-regions within an image. Examples of image        types that may be recognized by such modules 238 include one or        more of: facial type (facial image recognized within visual        query), bar code type (bar code recognized within visual query),        and text type (text recognized within visual query); and    -   additional optional client applications 240 such as an email        application, a phone application, a browser application, a        mapping application, instant messaging application, social        networking application etc. In some embodiments, the application        corresponding to an appropriate actionable search result can be        launched or accessed when the actionable search result is        selected.

Optionally, the image region selection module 234 which allows a user toselect a particular sub-portion of an image for annotation, also allowsthe user to choose a search result as a “correct” hit withoutnecessarily further annotating it. For example, the user may bepresented with a top N number of facial recognition matches and maychoose the correct person from that results list. For some searchqueries, more than one type of result will be presented, and the userwill choose a type of result. For example, the image query may include aperson standing next to a tree, but only the results regarding theperson is of interest to the user. Therefore, the image selection module234 allows the user to indicate which type of image is the “correct”type—i.e., the type he is interested in receiving. The user may alsowish to annotate the search result by adding personal comments ordescriptive words using either the annotation text entry module 230 (forfilling in a form) or freeform annotation text entry module 232.

In some embodiments, the optional local image analysis module 238 is aportion of the client application (108, FIG. 1). Furthermore, in someembodiments the optional local image analysis module 238 includes one ormore programs to perform local image analysis to pre-process orcategorize the visual query or a portion thereof. For example, theclient application 222 may recognize that the image contains a bar code,a face, or text, prior to submitting the visual query to a searchengine. In some embodiments, when the local image analysis module 238detects that the visual query contains a particular type of image, themodule asks the user if they are interested in a corresponding type ofsearch result. For example, the local image analysis module 238 maydetect a face based on its general characteristics (i.e., withoutdetermining which person's face) and provides immediate feedback to theuser prior to sending the query on to the visual query server system. Itmay return a result like, “A face has been detected, are you interestedin getting facial recognition matches for this face?” This may save timefor the visual query server system (106, FIG. 1). For some visualqueries, the front end visual query processing server (110, FIG. 1) onlysends the visual query to the search system 112 corresponding to thetype of image recognized by the local image analysis module 238. Inother embodiments, the visual query to the search system 112 may sendthe visual query to all of the search systems 112A-N, but will rankresults from the search system 112 corresponding to the type of imagerecognized by the local image analysis module 238. In some embodiments,the manner in which local image analysis impacts on operation of thevisual query server system depends on the configuration of the clientsystem, or configuration or processing parameters associated with eitherthe user or the client system. Furthermore, the actual content of anyparticular visual query and the results produced by the local imageanalysis may cause different visual queries to be handled differently ateither or both the client system and the visual query server system.

In some embodiments, bar code recognition is performed in two steps,with analysis of whether the visual query includes a bar code performedon the client system at the local image analysis module 238. Then thevisual query is passed to a bar code search system only if the clientdetermines the visual query is likely to include a bar code. In otherembodiments, the bar code search system processes every visual query.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a front end visual queryprocessing server system 110 in accordance with some embodiments. Thefront end server 110 typically includes one or more processing units(CPU's) 302, one or more network or other communications interfaces 304,memory 312, and one or more communication buses 314 for interconnectingthese components. The communication buses 314 optionally includecircuitry (sometimes called a chipset) that interconnects and controlscommunications between system components. Memory 312 includes high-speedrandom access memory, such as DRAM, SRAM, DDR RAM or other random accesssolid state memory devices; and may include non-volatile memory, such asone or more magnetic disk storage devices, optical disk storage devices,flash memory devices, or other non-volatile solid state storage devices.Memory 312 may optionally include one or more storage devices remotelylocated from the CPU(s) 302. Memory 312, or alternately the non-volatilememory device(s) within memory 312, comprises a non-transitory computerreadable storage medium. In some embodiments, memory 312 or the computerreadable storage medium of memory 312 stores the following programs,modules and data structures, or a subset thereof:

-   -   an operating system 316 that includes procedures for handling        various basic system services and for performing hardware        dependent tasks;    -   a network communication module 318 that is used for connecting        the front end server system 110 to other computers via the one        or more communication network interfaces 304 (wired or wireless)        and one or more communication networks, such as the Internet,        other wide area networks, local area networks, metropolitan area        networks, and so on;    -   a query manager 320 for handling the incoming visual queries        from the client system 102 and sending them to two or more        parallel search systems; as described elsewhere in this        document, in some special situations a visual query may be        directed to just one of the search systems, such as when the        visual query includes an client-generated instruction (e.g.,        “facial recognition search only”);    -   a results filtering module 322 for optionally filtering the        results from the one or more parallel search systems and sending        the top or “relevant” results to the client system 102 for        presentation;    -   a results ranking and formatting module 324 for optionally        ranking the results from the one or more parallel search systems        and for formatting the results for presentation;    -   a results document creation module 326, is used when        appropriate, to create an interactive search results document;        module 326 may include sub-modules, including but not limited to        a bounding box creation module 328 and a link creation module        330;    -   a label creation module 331 for creating labels that are visual        identifiers of respective sub-portions of a visual query.    -   an annotation module 332 for receiving annotations from a user        and sending them to an annotation database 116;    -   an actionable search results module 338 for generating, in        response to a visual query, one or more actionable search result        elements, each configured to launch a client-side action;        examples of actionable search result elements are buttons to        initiate a telephone call, to initiate email message, to map an        address, to make a restaurant reservation, and to provide an        option to purchase a product; and    -   a query and annotation database 116 which comprises the database        itself 334 and an index to the database 336.

The results ranking and formatting module 324 ranks the results returnedfrom the one or more parallel search systems (112-A-112-N, FIG. 1). Asalready noted above, for some visual queries, only the results from onesearch system may be relevant. In such an instance, only the relevantsearch results from that one search system are ranked. For some visualqueries, several types of search results may be relevant. In theseinstances, in some embodiments, the results ranking and formattingmodule 324 ranks all of the results from the search system having themost relevant result (e.g., the result with the highest relevance score)above the results for the less relevant search systems. In otherembodiments, the results ranking and formatting module 324 ranks a topresult from each relevant search system above the remaining results. Insome embodiments, the results ranking and formatting module 324 ranksthe results in accordance with a relevance score computed for each ofthe search results. For some visual queries, augmented textual queriesare performed in addition to the searching on parallel visual searchsystems. In some embodiments, when textual queries are also performed,their results are presented in a manner visually distinctive from thevisual search system results.

The results ranking and formatting module 324 also formats the results.In some embodiments, the results are presented in a list format. In someembodiments, the results are presented by means of an interactiveresults document. In some embodiments, both an interactive resultsdocument and a list of results are presented. In some embodiments, thetype of query dictates how the results are presented. For example, ifmore than one searchable subject is detected in the visual query, thenan interactive results document is produced, while if only onesearchable subject is detected the results will be displayed in listformat only.

The label creation module is used to create labels for one or moreimages in the visual query. In some embodiments, when one or moretextual terms are determined to correspond to one or more images in avisual query, the label creation module 331 uses the terms to label theimage(s) in the visual query. In some embodiments, when the user clickson the label, a term based query is launched for the term. In otherembodiments, the labels are links to the results for a term based queryassociated with labeled term. In these embodiments, the labels are partof an interactive results document explained below.

The results document creation module 326 is used to create aninteractive search results document (an example of which is shown inFIG. 11.). The interactive search results document may have one or moredetected and searched subjects. The bounding box creation module 328creates a bounding box around one or more of the searched subjects. Thebounding boxes may be rectangular boxes, or may outline the shape(s) ofthe subject(s). The link creation module 330 creates links to searchresults associated with their respective subject in the interactivesearch results document. In some embodiments, the subject searched isassociated with one or more textual terms corresponding to an image in avisual query. In some embodiments, clicking within the bounding box areaactivates the corresponding link inserted by the link creation module.

The query and annotation database 116 contains information that can beused to improve visual query results. In some embodiments, the user mayannotate the image after the visual query results have been presented.Furthermore, in some embodiments the user may annotate the image beforesending it to the visual query search system. Pre-annotation may helpthe visual query processing by focusing the results, or running textbased searches on the annotated words in parallel with the visual querysearches. In some embodiments, annotated versions of a picture can bemade public (e.g., when the user has given permission for publication,for example by designating the image and annotation(s) as not private),so as to be returned as a potential image match hit. For example, if auser takes a picture of a flower and annotates the image by givingdetailed genus and species information about that flower, the user maywant that image to be presented to anyone who performs a visual queryresearch looking for that flower. In some embodiments, the informationfrom the query and annotation database 116 is periodically pushed to theparallel search systems 112, which incorporate relevant portions of theinformation (if any) into their respective individual databases 114.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an image-to-terms search system112-C utilized to process a visual query in accordance with someembodiments. In some embodiments, the image-to-terms search systemrecognizes objects (instance recognition) in the visual query. In otherembodiments, the image-to-terms search system recognizes objectcategories (type recognition) in the visual query. In some embodiments,the image to terms system recognizes both objects and object-categories.The image-to-terms search system returns potential term matches forimages in the visual query. The image-to-terms search system 112-Ctypically includes one or more processing units (CPU's) 402, one or morenetwork or other communications interfaces 404, memory 412, and one ormore communication buses 414 for interconnecting these components. Thecommunication buses 414 optionally include circuitry (sometimes called achipset) that interconnects and controls communications between systemcomponents. Memory 412 includes high-speed random access memory, such asDRAM, SRAM, DDR RAM or other random access solid state memory devices;and may include non-volatile memory, such as one or more magnetic diskstorage devices, optical disk storage devices, flash memory devices, orother non-volatile solid state storage devices. Memory 412 mayoptionally include one or more storage devices remotely located from theCPU(s) 402. Memory 412, or alternately the non-volatile memory device(s)within memory 412, comprises a non-transitory computer readable storagemedium. In some embodiments, memory 412 or the computer readable storagemedium of memory 412 stores the following programs, modules and datastructures, or a subset thereof:

-   -   an operating system 416 that includes procedures for handling        various basic system services and for performing hardware        dependent tasks;    -   a network communication module 418 that is used for connecting        the image-to-terms search system 112-C to other computers via        the one or more communication network interfaces 404 (wired or        wireless) and one or more communication networks, such as the        Internet, other wide area networks, local area networks,        metropolitan area networks, and so on;    -   an image features identifier 419 for extracting image feature        values from the visual query and other images;    -   a image-to-terms search application 420 that maps image feature        values from the visual query to one or more terms using image        relevance models from image relevance model database 422;    -   an image relevance model database 422 for storing image        relevance models for textual queries, and which can be searched        by the image-to-terms search application 420 to find terms        relevant to a visual query;    -   a results ranking and formatting module 424 for ranking terms        relevant to a visual query identified in the image-to-terms        search application 420;    -   a optional terms-to-image search application 425 for searching        for images in response to textual queries from text-based query        search engine 406 and logging such searches; and    -   an annotation module 426 for receiving annotation information        from an annotation database (116, FIG. 1) determining if any of        the annotation information is relevant to the image-to terms        search system 112-C and storing any determined relevant portions        of the annotation information into the respective annotation        database 428.

FIGS. 2-4 are intended more as functional descriptions of variousfeatures present in a set of computer systems than as a structuralschematic of the embodiments described herein. In practice, and asrecognized by those of ordinary skill in the art, items shown separatelycould be combined and some items could be separated. For example, someitems shown separately in these figures could be implemented on singleservers and single items could be implemented by one or more servers.The actual number of systems used to implement visual query processingand how features are allocated among them will vary from oneimplementation to another.

Each of the methods described herein is typically governed byinstructions that are stored in a non-transitory computer readablestorage medium and that are executed by one or more processors of one ormore servers or clients. The above identified modules or programs (i.e.,sets of instructions) need not be implemented as separate softwareprograms, procedures or modules, and thus various subsets of thesemodules may be combined or otherwise re-arranged in various embodiments.Each of the operations shown in FIGS. 5-10 may correspond toinstructions stored in a computer memory or non-transitory computerreadable storage medium.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating a process for training imagerelevance models by mapping image features to textual terms, inaccordance with some embodiments. Each of the operations shown in FIG. 5may correspond to instructions stored in a computer memory or computerreadable storage medium.

Logs or records of textual queries for image results are accessed (502).Image-to-terms server 112-C accesses logs of textual searches for images(e.g., logs generated by terms-to-image search application 425). Thelogs include information on the query terms used for image searches, andfor each query term, the images that were selected by the users from thesearch results.

Top N query terms in the logs are identified (504). N unique query termsused in image queries, or N image queries, as documented in the logsaccessed in operation 502, are identified, where N is an integer. N isgenerally greater than 100. In some embodiments, N is an integer in therange of 5,000 to 30,000. In some embodiments, the N query terms areidentified based on number of appearances in the logs; the N query termsthat are identified are the terms that appear most often in imagequeries, as documented in the logs, over the span of a defined timeperiod (e.g., three months).

For each query term of the top N query terms, representative images areidentified (506). In some embodiments, the representative images for arespective query term are a predefined number of top images (e.g.,highest ranked images based on relevance to the query) in search resultsfor a textual search for images using the respective query term as thequery. For example, a search for images using the respective query termis performed in the terms-to-image search application 425, and a topsubset of the results of the search are identified. In some otherembodiments, the representative images are the images that were selectedby users most often from search results for image searches using therespective query term, as documented in the logs accessed in operation502.

For each representative image, relevant image feature values areextracted (508). For example, the image features identifier 419 mayextract image feature values for a respective representative image. Insome embodiments, an image feature value is a visual characteristic of aportion of the image. Examples of image feature values include colorhistogram values, intensity values, an edge statistic, texture values,and so forth. Further details on extracting image feature values aredisclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______, titled “ImageRelevance Model,” filed Jul. 17, 2009, Attorney Docket No.16113-1606001, which is incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety.

Machine learning is applied to generate an image relevance model foreach of the top N query terms (510). In some embodiments, the imagerelevance model is a vector of weights representing the relativeimportance of corresponding image features to a query term (512). For arespective query term, machine learning is applied to the extractedimage feature values of the representative images for the respectivequery term to train (and generate) an image relevance model for therespective query term. In some embodiments, the image relevance model isimplemented as a passive-aggressive model for image retrieval (PAMIR),an example of which is disclosed in D. Grangier and S. Bengio, “ADiscriminative Kernel-Based Model to Rank Images from Text Queries,”IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, vol. 30(2008), pp. 1371-1384, which is incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety as background information. Further details on training andgenerating the image relevance model is described in U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. ______, titled “Image Relevance Model,” filed Jul.17, 2009, Attorney Docket No. 16113-1606001, which is incorporated byreference above.

Image relevance models for the top N query terms are combined to producea matrix for mapping a visual query's image feature vector to N (queryterm, score) pairs (514). Each image relevance model vector for arespective query term becomes a row in a matrix of N rows for mapping avisual query's image feature vector to N (query term, score) pairs.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating exemplary data structures fortraining image relevance models by mapping image features to textualterms, in accordance with some embodiments. A log of query terms toimage result selections 601 includes, for a query term X 602, one ormore records 604 of image search results selected by users for the queryterm X. A record 604 includes an identifier and location of the image(e.g., the filename and Universal Resource Locator of the image,respectively) and data regarding the date of selection. From the records604, a number of representative images are identified for query term X602.

For a representative image, say Image 1 606, the image feature values608 are extracted/identified and a vector 605 representing the imagefeatures is generated.

For Query Term X 602, an image relevance model vector 610 with imagefeature weights 612 is generated and initialized. The image relevancemodel vector 610 is trained using the image feature vectors 605 of therepresentative images for Query Term X 602.

Trained image relevance model vectors 610 for different query terms arecombined into a matrix of image relevance models 614. As describedbelow, matrix 614 is used to identify one or more textual terms inresponse to a visual query.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating a process 700 for determining oneor more textual terms in response to a visual query, in accordance withsome embodiments. Each of the operations shown in FIG. 7 typicallycorresponds to instructions stored in a computer memory ornon-transitory computer readable storage medium.

The visual query server system receives a visual query from a clientsystem (702). The client system, for example, may be a desktop computingdevice, a mobile device, or another similar device as explained withreference to FIG. 1. An example visual query on an example client systemis shown in FIG. 8.

The visual query is an image document of any suitable format. Forexample, the visual query can be a photograph, a screen shot, a scannedimage, or a frame or a sequence of multiple frames of a video. In someembodiments, the visual query is a drawing produced by a contentauthoring program (236, FIG. 2). As such, in some embodiments, the user“draws” the visual query, while in other embodiments the user scans orphotographs the visual query. Some visual queries are created using animage generation application such as ADOBE ACROBAT, a photograph editingprogram, a drawing program, or an image editing program. For example, avisual query could come from a user taking a photograph of his friend onhis mobile phone and then submitting the photograph as the visual queryto the server system. The visual query could also come from a userscanning a page of a magazine, or taking a screen shot of a webpage on adesktop computer and then submitting the scan or screen shot as thevisual query to the server system. In some embodiments, the visual queryis submitted to the server system 106 through a search engine extensionof a browser application, through a plug-in for a browser application,or by a search application executed by the client system 102. Visualqueries may also be submitted by other application programs (executed bya client system) that support or generate images which can betransmitted to a remotely located server by the client system.

The visual query can be a combination of text and non-text elements. Forexample, a query could be a scan of a magazine page containing imagesand text, such as a person standing next to a road sign. A visual querycan include an image of a person's face, whether taken by a cameraembedded in the client system or a document scanned by or otherwisereceived by the client system. A visual query can also be a scan of adocument containing only text. The visual query can also be an image ofnumerous distinct subjects, such as several birds in a forest, a personand an object (e.g., car, park bench, etc.), a person and an animal(e.g., pet, farm animal, butterfly, etc.). Visual queries may have twoor more distinct elements. For example, a visual query could include abarcode and an image of a product or product name on a product package.For example, the visual query could be a picture of a book cover thatincludes the title of the book, cover art, and a bar code. In someinstances, one visual query will produce two or more distinct searchresults corresponding to different portions of the visual query, asdiscussed in more detail below.

The visual query server system responds to the visual query bygenerating a set of image feature values for the visual query (704). Thevisual query server system identifies a set of image features in thevisual query and generates a set of values for the image features in thevisual query. Each image feature value represents a distinct imagecharacteristic of the visual query. Examples of the generation imagefeature values are described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______,titled “Image Relevance Model,” filed Jul. 17, 2009, Attorney Docket No.16113-1606001, which is incorporated by reference above. In someembodiments, the set of image feature values includes color histogramvalues, intensity values, and an edge statistic (706). Other examples ofimage feature values include texture and other characteristics of aportion of an image. In some embodiments, the set of image featurevalues includes more feature values or less feature values than asdescribed above.

The visual query server system maps the set of image feature values to aplurality of textual terms, including a weight for each of the textualterms in the plurality of textual terms (708). In some embodiments, theplurality of textual terms is the top N query terms or top N imagequeries described above with reference to FIG. 5. A respective textualterm is a phrase, multiple words, or a single word. The mapping yields aweight or score for each of the plurality of textual terms with respectto the visual query. The weight or score is a relevance measure of thevisual query to a respective textual term.

In some embodiments, the mapping utilizes a set of image relevancemodels, each model corresponding to a predefined textual term (710). Theimage relevance model for a textual term is a vector of weightsrepresenting the relative importance of a corresponding image featureused in determining whether an image is relevant to the textual term. Insome embodiments, the predefined textual terms are the top N queryterms, and each model in the set of image relevance models correspond toa respective top N query term.

In some embodiments, the set of image feature values for the visualquery comprises an image features vector of the image feature values;and the mapping includes multiplying the image features vector by amatrix of image relevance models, each row of the matrix correspondingto a predefined textual term (712). Stated another way, the set of imagefeature values is represented by a vector of the values, and the imagefeature values vector is multiplied with a matrix of image relevancemodels, where each row in the matrix is a image relevance model vectorcorresponding to a query term, an example of which is described abovewith reference to FIGS. 5-6. The resulting product is a set of weightsor scores for each of the plurality of textual terms with respect to thevisual query.

The visual query server system ranks the textual terms in accordancewith the weights of the textual terms (714). For example, the textualterms are ordered by their weights.

The visual query server system sends one or more of the ranked textualterms to the client system in accordance with the ranking the textualterms (716). In some embodiments, the textual terms that are weighted orscored the highest with respect to the visual query, in accordance withthe weights or scores calculated from the mapping described above, aresent to the client system for display to the user, an example of whichis described below.

In some embodiments, the visual query server system sends to the clientsystem one or more images associated with the ranked textual terms (718)that are sent to the client system. Stated another way, the visual queryserver system sends, along with the ranked terms, images associated withthe ranked terms to the client system. In some implementations, at theclient system, a textual term is displayed with an associated imagereceived from the visual query server system. An example of theresulting display at the client system is described below with referenceto FIG. 10.

In some cases, one or more of the images associated with the rankedtextual terms have image feature values similar to the image featurevalues identified for the visual query (720). For example, imagesassociated with a ranked textual term are identified from a search forimages using the ranked textual term (e.g., using terms-to-image searchapplication 425). A set of best images associated with the rankedtextual terms are selected by the visual query server system inaccordance with a metric of similarity between their image featurevalues and the image feature values of the visual query. One example ofsuch a metric of similarity is a dot product of the image feature valuesof candidate images with the image feature values of the visual query.For each top ranked textual term, one or more images having the highestmetric of similarity (e.g., dot product) is selected.

In some embodiments, in response to user selection of a term of theranked textual terms, a textual query search on the selected term isperformed (722). For example, a user may click on one of the displayedranked textual terms, and in response a textual search using theselected textual term as the query term is performed (e.g., by termquery server system 118). The returned search results may include webpages, videos, news articles, etc. that satisfy (e.g., that match, orbest match) the textual term query.

In some embodiments, the visual query server system sends to the clientsystem an interactive results document that includes one or more visualidentifiers of respective sub-portions of the visual query, and alsoincludes, for each visual identifier in at least a subset of the visualidentifiers, at least one user selectable link comprising a respectivetextual term of the ranked textual terms (724). For example, the visualquery server system sends to the client the visual query image withvisual identifiers of particular sub-regions overlaid on the visualquery image. In some implementations, one or more of the visualidentifiers is a user selectable link that is displayed as thecorresponding textual term. When the user selectable link is selected bythe user, a textual search using the selected textual term as the queryterm is performed in response. An example of an interactive resultsdocument with visual identifiers of respective sub-portions of thevisual query is described below with reference to FIG. 11.

FIG. 8 illustrates a client system 102 with a screen shot of anexemplary visual query 802, in accordance with some embodiments. Theclient system 102 shown in FIG. 8 is a mobile device such as a cellulartelephone, portable music player, or portable emailing device. Theclient system 102 includes a display 206 and one or more input means 208such the buttons shown in this figure. In some embodiments, the display206 is a touch sensitive display 209. In embodiments having a touchsensitive display 209, soft buttons displayed on the display 209 mayoptionally replace some or all of the electromechanical buttons 208.Touch sensitive displays are also helpful in interacting with the visualquery results as explained in more detail below. The client system 102also includes an image capture mechanism such as a camera 210.

FIG. 8 illustrates a visual query 802 which is a photograph or videoframe of a package on a shelf of a store. In the embodiments describedhere, the visual query is a two dimensional image having a resolutioncorresponding to the size of the visual query in pixels in each of twodimensions. The visual query 802 in this example is a two dimensionalimage of three dimensional objects. The visual query 802 includesbackground elements, a product package 804, and a variety of types ofentities on the package including an image of a person 806, an image ofa trademark 808, an image of a product 810, and a variety of textualelements 812.

As explained with reference to FIG. 7, the visual query 802 is sent tothe front end server 110, which sends the visual query 802 to aplurality of parallel search systems (112A-N), receives the results, andcreates an interactive results document.

FIG. 9 illustrates a screen shot of an interactive results document andvisual query displayed concurrently with a list of textual terms, inaccordance with some embodiments. The screen shot in FIG. 9 shows aninteractive results document 900 and the original visual query 802displayed concurrently with a visual query results list 902. In someembodiments, the interactive results document 900 is displayed byitself. In some other embodiments, the interactive results document 900is displayed concurrently with the original visual query as shown inFIG. 9. In some embodiments, the list of visual query results 902 isconcurrently displayed along with the original visual query 802 and/orthe interactive results document 900. The type of client system and theamount of room on the display 206 may determine whether the list ofresults 902 is displayed concurrently with the interactive resultsdocument 900. In some embodiments, the client system 102 receives (inresponse to a visual query submitted to the visual query server system)both the list of results 902 and the interactive results document 900,but only displays the list of results 902 when the user scrolls belowthe interactive results document 900.

In FIG. 9, the list of results 902 includes a list of textual terms 903.The list of textual terms 903 includes one or more textual term results905. The textual terms 905 are terms that were identified for the visualquery 802 in accordance with the process described above with referenceto FIGS. 7A-7B. Selection of a textual term 905 by the user (e.g., byclicking on the term) activates a textual search using the selectedtextual term 905 as the query.

In some embodiments, the list of results 902 also includes other searchresults found in response to the visual query. Examples of searchresults displayed in response to a visual query are disclosed in U.S.patent application Ser. No. 12/852,189, filed Aug. 6, 2010, entitled“Identifying Matching Canonical Documents in Response to a VisualQuery,” which is incorporated by reference in its entirety.

In some embodiments, one or more of the textual terms 905 in textualterms list 903 are displayed with one or more accompanying images 1002,as shown in FIG. 10. In some implementations, image 1002 is the mostrelevant image corresponding to textual term 905, based on an imagesearch using the textual term as the query. The images 1002 are imagesassociated with the visual query 802 as a whole or with sub-portions ofthe visual query 802. The pairing of textual terms 905 and accompanyingimages 1002 provide further context to the user as to how the textualterms 905 relate to the visual query 802 and sub-portions of the visualquery 802.

FIG. 11 illustrates a client device 102 with a screen shot of aninteractive results document 1100 with labels 1102 being the visualidentifiers of respective sub-portions of the visual query 802 of FIG.8, in accordance with some embodiments. The label visual identifiers1102 each include a textual term associated with the sub-portion. Thelabel visual identifier 1102 also includes a user selectable link (withthe textual term as the anchor text) to textual search results using thetextual term as the query.

In FIG. 11, the labels 1102 are displayed as partially transparent areaswith text that are located over their respective sub-portions of theinteractive results document. In some other embodiments, a respectivelabel is positioned near but not located over its respective sub-portionof the interactive results document. In some embodiments, the useractivates the display of the textual search results corresponding to alabel 1102 by tapping on the activation region inside the space outlinedby the edges or periphery of the label 1102.

The foregoing description, for purpose of explanation, has beendescribed with reference to specific embodiments. However, theillustrative discussions above are not intended to be exhaustive or tolimit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Many modificationsand variations are possible in view of the above teachings. Theembodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain theprinciples of the invention and its practical applications, to therebyenable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention andvarious embodiments with various modifications as are suited to theparticular use contemplated.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method, for identifying textual terms inresponse to a visual query comprising: on a server system having one ormore processors and memory storing one or more programs for execution bythe one or more processors: receiving a visual query from a clientsystem; responding to the visual query by: generating a set of imagefeature values for the visual query; mapping the set of image featurevalues to a plurality of textual terms, including a weight for each ofthe textual terms in the plurality of textual terms; ranking the textualterms in accordance with the weights of the textual terms; and inaccordance with the ranking the textual terms, sending one or more ofthe ranked textual terms to the client system.
 2. The method of claim 1,including: wherein the mapping utilizes a set of image relevance models,each model corresponding to a predefined textual term.
 3. The method ofclaim 1, wherein: the set of image feature values for the visual querycomprises an image features vector of the image feature values; and themapping includes multiplying the image features vector by a matrix ofimage relevance models, each row of the matrix corresponding to apredefined textual term.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the set ofimage feature values includes: color histogram values, intensity values,and an edge statistic.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein responding tothe visual query further comprises: sending to the client system one ormore images associated with the ranked textual terms.
 6. The method ofclaim 5, wherein the one or more images associated with the rankedtextual terms have image feature values similar to the image featurevalues identified for the visual query.
 7. The method of claim 6,further comprising: in response to user selection of a term of theranked textual terms, performing a textual query search on the selectedterm.
 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising: sending to theclient system an interactive results document comprising one or morevisual identifiers of respective sub-portions of the visual query, andfor each visual identifier in at least a subset of the visualidentifiers at least one user selectable link comprising a respectivetextual term of the ranked textual terms.
 9. A server system,comprising: one or more processors; and memory storing one or moreprograms for execution by the one or more processors; the one or moreprograms comprising instructions for: receiving a visual query from aclient system; responding to the visual query by: generating a set ofimage feature values for the visual query; mapping the set of imagefeature values to a plurality of textual terms, including a weight foreach of the textual terms in the plurality of textual terms; ranking thetextual terms in accordance with the weights of the textual terms; andin accordance with the ranking the textual terms, sending one or more ofthe ranked textual terms to the client system.
 10. The server system ofclaim 9, wherein instructions for mapping include instructions forutilizing a set of image relevance models, each model corresponding to apredefined textual term.
 11. The server system of claim 9, wherein: theset of image feature values for the visual query comprises an imagefeatures vector of the image feature values; and the instructions formapping include instructions for multiplying the image features vectorby a matrix of image relevance models, each row of the matrixcorresponding to a predefined textual term.
 12. The server system ofclaim 9, wherein the set of image feature values includes: colorhistogram values, intensity values, and an edge statistic.
 13. Theserver system of claim 9, wherein responding to the visual query furthercomprises instructions for: sending to the client system one or moreimages associated with the ranked textual terms.
 14. The server systemof claim 13, wherein the one or more images associated with the rankedtextual terms have image feature values similar to the image featurevalues identified for the visual query.
 15. The server system of claim9, further comprising instructions for: sending to the client system aninteractive results document comprising one or more visual identifiersof respective sub-portions of the visual query, and for each visualidentifier in at least a subset of the visual identifiers at least oneuser selectable link comprising a respective textual term of the rankedtextual terms.
 16. A non-transitory computer readable storage mediumstoring one or more programs configured for execution by a computer, theone or more programs comprising instructions for: receiving a visualquery from a client system; responding to the visual query by:generating a set of image feature values for the visual query; mappingthe set of image feature values to a plurality of textual terms,including a weight for each of the textual terms in the plurality oftextual terms; ranking the textual terms in accordance with the weightsof the textual terms; and in accordance with the ranking the textualterms, sending one or more of the ranked textual terms to the clientsystem.
 17. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim16, wherein the instructions for mapping include instructions forutilizing a set of image relevance models, each model corresponding to apredefined textual term.
 18. The non-transitory computer readablestorage medium of claim 16, wherein: the set of image feature values forthe visual query comprises an image features vector of the image featurevalues; and the instructions for mapping include instructions formultiplying the image features vector by a matrix of image relevancemodels, each row of the matrix corresponding to a predefined textualterm.
 19. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim16, wherein the set of image feature values includes: color histogramvalues, intensity values, and an edge statistic.
 20. The non-transitorycomputer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein responding to thevisual query further comprises instructions for: sending to the clientsystem one or more images associated with the ranked textual terms. 21.The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 20, whereinthe one or more images associated with the ranked textual terms haveimage feature values similar to the image feature values identified forthe visual query.
 22. The non-transitory computer readable storagemedium of claim 16, further comprising instructions for: sending to theclient system an interactive results document comprising one or morevisual identifiers of respective sub-portions of the visual query, andfor each visual identifier in at least a subset of the visualidentifiers at least one user selectable link comprising a respectivetextual term of the ranked textual terms.